


I Always Thought I Might Be Bad

by LivTheWarrior



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I'm sorry I'm writing so much about just my oc's but that's just how it be sometimes, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:34:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16553303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivTheWarrior/pseuds/LivTheWarrior
Summary: now I'm sure that it's true, 'cause I think you're so good, and I'm nothing like you.title + lyric from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kdxUY9_vnsWith the Institute gone, Delilah finds herself with no purpose. At least until Shaun comes into her life. He's a synth, but he's so much like the son she lost so long ago. So perhaps she just couldn't help herself. And hey, this might be her only way to get back the life she had taken from her. So why not give it a shot? One day, she might even be able to fully move on...AU where the Institute only needs a blood sample from baby Shaun (to gather the DNA needed to create Gen 3 synths), and kills both him and Nate inside of the vault.





	I Always Thought I Might Be Bad

Life had always seemed like some sort of sick joke that had been played on her. Her parents would visit her in the small apartment they rented for her for brief periods of time before leaving again. But once she was eighteen she was on her own, with nothing but a final letter from her mother and a bundle of cash. The only thing Delilah could do back then to survive in that economy was to join the army. 

What a shame it was, the way she had always benefited from violence. 

But that was before she had met Nate. 

He was good and kind-hearted, her polar opposite. That’s probably why they made such a good couple. And when Shaun was born… he was so beautiful, so perfect.

Then war had to worm its way back into her life, just when she thought she had escaped it. 

They took the only good things she had in her life and she hated them for it. She wanted the Institute destroyed, and their precious _“Director”_ dead.

And now, with the help of the Brotherhood, this all had happened. Her husband and child’s lives had been avenged. 

But Delilah feels nothing now. As she watched the life drain from the Director’s eyes, yes, maybe she felt pure elation for a brief time. But now there is no happiness, no exhilaration, no joy. Nothing. 

The only thing that had kept her going since the second she emerged from the vault was the hot fires of rancor. But now she had no Institute to despise. 

_**So what now?**_

——————————————————

Delilah pats the mound of dirt with her shovel, ensuring that it would stay packed together. Sighing, she drops the tool and falls to her knees, silent. It would be time for her to leave soon. To leave Sanctuary, and move somewhere else. Someplace that was without the memories of _what was_ echoing throughout the wind to torment her every waking second. 

She didn’t really want to leave Preston and his small group of “Minutemen” to have what was once her home to themselves but… part of her felt she could trust them. They never liked her but they would respect the grave she just created. Yes, a grave. It was a struggle for her, to carry the bodies of her husband and child out of vault 111, but she knew this was the right thing to do. They deserved this one last thing. They deserved more than this. 

It should have been her. The Institute should have taken her blood and shot her, not her child. What had she ever done to deserve to live, after all? Everything she had ever done had been inherently wrathful, even when trying to avenge her family. Would her husband have even wanted her to go this path? To burn down everything that got in her way? 

Leaning forward, Delilah rests her forehead against the cool earth. She just stays like that for a while. 

“Mom?” 

She straightens up, twisting her head to face the small voice. Shaun, the synth Shaun, stands there, head tilted to the side. Now it is true that Delilah hates just about every synth in existence, due to their connection to the Institute, but this was different. Back when the Institute was burning down around her, he had come forth, begging to be brought with them, for his (what he saw as) mother to save him. And in that moment, Delilah caved in. When she looked into those pleading eyes she saw Nate and nothing else mattered to her but that one thing. Now Shaun was one of the most important things in her life. Sure, he was a synth, but he didn’t even know he was such. She would make sure to tell him that later though, sometime further down the line. 

Delilah gives him a soft smile. “Yes, sunshine?”

“What are you doing?” 

“Just… missing your dad. The grave is finished.” Sure, the real Shaun had been buried alongside his father, because Delilah thought it fair they share a grave, but she couldn’t tell him that yet. 

“Oh.” Shaun shuffles his feet. “Could you… tell me about him? I mean… I never got to know him. He died when I was a baby, right?” 

“Yes, its true.” Memories flash through Delilah’s mind again, zooming past in waves. But she has to tell him. After all, this was her son now. “I can tell you more if you want.” 

“Then… what was he like? Did he look cool and powerful like Danse does?” The boy raises his arms up, trying to look intimidating.

Delilah laughs a sad sort of laugh. “Not exactly. He was gentle, sweet, and always had the right intentions, but he could stand his own when need be. A smile was almost always present on his face, especially after he married me and you were born. He loved us more than anything.” She pauses. “He would be so proud of you too, do you know that?”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

There is a silent pause between the two. Shaun seems to be thinking about what all had just been said to him.

“Let’s get inside.” Delilah gives the grave a pat, as if saying goodbye, before standing up and dusting off her black tailcoat. Her arm wraps around her child. “We have a little more packing to do as well, don’t we?”

Shaun’s face flickers to one of excitement. “Oh yeah! Where do you think we will go once we leave here?” 

Delilah just gives a cunning smile (one that she gives when she has a plan, and she always has a plan) and pats the boy’s shoulder. “Anywhere you want to go. Because so long as I have you, I could travel to the moon and back if you wanted it.”

“The moon? Really Mom? Now you know that’s impossible!” 

“Oh really? Did I not ever tell you about the spaceships I had back in my day? They could get even past the moon.” 

Shaun gasps. “Really? Can you tell me more? Please??” 

They have circled around the house, making it to the front door. “Of course. But only if you finish packing your things. Deal?” 

“Deal!” With that, the boy runs inside. 

The woman brushes her ebony hair behind her ear, before strutting into the house behind him. 

The world could be cruel, and Delilah could be just as bad, if she wanted to be. But maybe, just maybe, there would be a day where she could put that behind her, and she could move on from it all. Perhaps that day is today, who’s to know?


End file.
